PETALING JAYA: A Swiss NGO will today ask for sensitive financial records from three major banks and an accounting firm, in the ongoing money-laundering case involving a real estate company allegedly linked to Sarawak governor Taib Mahmud.
According to the Toronto Star, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) hopes to use the documents from the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Manulife Financial and Deloitte to pursue private prosecution against Sakto Corporation (Sakto).
This is despite court filings in which the banks said the release of the documents would raise privacy concerns.
“We have nothing to lose except money,” BMF executive director Lukas Straumann was quoted as saying.
The Ottawa-based Sakto was incorporated in 1983 by Jamilah Taib Murray, the daughter of Taib Mahmud, with a gift from her father as initial capital.
Taib was a long-time chief minister of Sarawak before becoming governor in 2014.
BMF and Malaysian conservation activists in Toronto claim that Sakto, which is currently valued at US$250 million, may have accumulated its wealth partly by laundering money from corruption in the Sarawak logging industry.
The allegations however are unproven in court, with both Sakto and Jamilah denying the claims.
A first hearing was held in Toronto last August, under an order that it not be heard in public. However, the order was lifted in September, and the case will now be heard in public.
“If the plaintiffs’ evidence is correct, there may be very significant criminal misconduct being committed here in aid of corrupt foreign official(s),” Ontario Superior Court Justice F L Meyers was quoted as saying.
“There may be no one else here who is interested in uncovering the truth whether it has to do with criminality here, corruption abroad that Canadians are facilitating, or deforestation and destruction of indigenous habitat and culture in Malaysia.” -FMT
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